_The deep forest around_. _Distant mountains_. _Deck of the_ “_Pacha_.”
DRAKE _and_ CHIRUCA.
DRAKE. This seems a hiding-place retired enough. Yet! should the
Spaniards come here, and so many of us absent?
CHIRUCA. There is no danger. They know nothing of this region. Five
nations of warriors are in arms against them. Our homes will be your
homes; our food will be your food; the beautiful daughters of the land
will be your wives; we will love you like brothers; we will join with
your great nation; your great Queen shall be our Queen. This affair of
Nombre de Dios will fly through our people; now we know you can give us
vengeance and drive these robbers away. England shall have all the gold.
DRAKE. The more I see of this river the better I like it—the very haven
for a pirate ship.
CHIRUCA. Here, then, I leave you, noble Drake. To morrow (_pointing to
the mountains_) before those mountain tops are red with the rising sun,
we shall meet at the junction of the streams. Adieu! (_he prepares to
leap_)
DRAKE. Stop! Won’t you have a boat?
CHIRUCA (_waving his hand declining_). Adieu! Adieu! (_he leaps
overboard and swims ashore_)
DRAKE. Marvellous speed. These Indians are amphibious. They can swim
like beavers.
_Scene changes_.